Joanna Hoffman facts for kids

Joanna Karine Hoffman (born July 27, 1955) is a Polish-American marketing expert. She was a key member of the first teams that created the Macintosh computer at Apple and later the NeXT computer.

When she joined Apple Computer, the Mac was still a new idea. For the first year and a half, she was the entire marketing team for the Macintosh project. She helped design the Mac and wrote the first guide for how its user interface should work. Later, Joanna led the team that brought the Mac to countries in Europe and Asia.

Early life and education

Joanna Hoffman was born in Poland. Her father was a film director, and her mother was Armenian. She lived with her mother in Armenia until she was 10. Then she moved to Poland to live with her father.

In 1968, she moved to the United States to live with her mother in Buffalo, New York. Joanna quickly learned English and did very well in school. She studied different subjects like anthropology, physics, and languages. She earned a science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also studied archaeology at the University of Chicago.

Working with computers

Joanna was taking a break from her studies when friends told her about a lecture in California. There, she had a lively discussion with Jef Raskin about how computers should look. They also talked about how computers could make people's lives better. Raskin was so impressed that he asked her to interview for a job at Apple.

She joined the Macintosh project in October 1980. She was part of the first team, which included Burrell Smith, Bud Tribble, and Brian Howard.

Standing up to Steve Jobs

Joanna Hoffman was known for being one of the few people who could successfully challenge Steve Jobs. Jobs was a very strong leader at Apple and NeXT. In both 1981 and 1982, she won a fun award at Apple. It was given to the person who best stood up to Jobs. Steve Jobs knew about this award and even liked it!

Later career

In the early 1990s, Joanna was a vice president at a company called General Magic. She retired in 1995 to spend more time with her family. Sometimes, she gives talks about her time at Apple and working with Steve Jobs.

In 2020, she started working as a consultant for a Spanish artificial intelligence company called Sherpa. She works closely with its founder and CEO, Xabi Uribe Etxebarria.

Joanna has strong feelings about social media. She has shared her concerns that some platforms can negatively affect human relationships and society.

Family life

Joanna Hoffman is married to Alain Rossmann. He is from France and also worked on the Mac team at Apple. They have two sons together.

See also

In Spanish: Joanna Hoffman para niños